School Field Trip

---

Teaching at an international school is an entirely new adventure in my teaching experience. The students are bi and tri-lingual. We teach in English and that is usually their third language. Most have attended public schools in other countries. Their experiences are wide ranging. Subsequently the conversations are a bit out of the norm for kids. For example the topic of the movie "Madagascar" came up in class the other day. It prompted this exchange: 1st student - Does Madagascar look like the movie in real life. 2nd student - It's a cartoon movie! Of course not! 3rd student - Yes it is beautiful. 1st student - Have you been to Madagascar? 2nd student - No, but my dad has. 3rd student - I have and it is really a beautiful island.
Field trips here are also something out of the norm from our teaching experience. This past Wednesday we took the first trip of the year to the small town of Oria. It is located about a 40 minute drive southeast of Brindisi. We visited the cathedral, very Baroque, and the castle. It was a pleasant outing and the weather was just perfect. I forgot to take photos of the outside of the castle as I have a student that is a bit overactive and I had to keep a constant eye on him - especially around the weapons display. Some things in education are the same world over - rambunctious boys, interesting objects to touch, all kinds of places to climb and crawl into :-) There was a bonus event during the day however. On the way to lunch we came by a small shop were this little old guy was standing outside selling freshly picked mushrooms. I don't know what kind of mushroom it is but it resembles the oyster mushrooms somewhat. It has a thicker stem and is dark brown in color. He had just picked them that morning and so I bought a kilo for 10 euro. We've eaten them with two meals. One dinner was a guinea hen (best tasting fowl in my opinion), gnocchi with marinara and sauteed mushrooms also steeped in the marinara and of course the obligatory vino.
Funny how virtually every event here somehow evolves into a food experience :-) Well it is 8PM and we are going to head out for a light dinner. We are thinking of pizza...unless the spirit moves me to try something that catches my eye:-)

---

Photos

Comfy bus
We rent a very comfy bus for these trips. No sense in being uncomfortable.

Narrow streets
and kids makes for a bit of jangled nerves.

Baroque, Baroque!
Everything dazzles the eye when it comes to Baroque.

Cool organ
Church organs always make think of the scence in the movie "The Commitments" and one guy is playing "Whiter Shade of Pale."

A trip to the lower level
where there is a crypt and some mummies of early church members...the best part of the trip according to the kids.

The courtyard
of the castle.

Weapons display
also ranked very cool by the kids...some desperately wanted to play with them

The road home
a very nice scenic drive through agricultural land.